Mine-d Field
by CarltonLassiterPD
Summary: Anakin Skywalker, the chosen one has always remained distant with his own internal struggles. While he is prone to using the dark side are we getting the full story? What if we took a look at the internal struggle with in Anakin as Obi-wan gets a much needed warning about his own future. (please read and review let me know if it's worth pursuing l8r chapters)
1. Chapter 1

Anakin was no stranger to battle or to conflict, in fact with in many aspects of his life he'd found himself a slave to it. He chose to seek out battles and attempt to keep his mind and his body focused on the outer crusade rather than that of the raging tempest swirling within the confines of his own being. It was a duel that Anakin only avoided while awake. Many nights Obi-wan would find him wandering about in the camp doing head counts, inventory, or most often tinkering with things that needn't be bothered with such as comms, their ships, the droids, and speeders and his own lightsaber. While Obi-wan did his best to attempt to remedy the conflict young Skywalker was feeling, Anakin remained closed off and distant with his own problems. Typical, Skywalker.  
Anakin, during one of his rare moments of stillness, had chosen to meditate- or perhaps he was sleeping, Kenobi could never be too certain. This time, was different however. With Anakin's struggle he opened his mind up with in the force, or perhaps it was the force itself allowing Kenobi a brief glimpse into Skywalker's strife.  
The young jedi remained within his own head completely cut off from the jedi master and the rest of his company in the world around him. It was as if he was in a galaxy far far away on a distant planet made up of turmoil and darkness and conflict. The planet fueled it, fed off of it, dwelled within it. The swirling rivers of magma under the crust of pitch hardened obsidian poked out through cracks and formed into churning rivers of red hot lava. The air was thick and hurt to breathe with each inhalation of soot burning embers assaulted the jedi master's lungs. Obi-wan Kenobi could feel the heat permeating the air like radiation and leaving stains on his cloaks. Nothing he'd ever meditated on with in the force had ever been so vivid as to physically ail and scorched his skin as it did here. Kenobi pressed on determined to see this through and experience what Skywalker so desperately feared. Is this perhaps what Yoda had sensed all those moons ago when Anakin was but a bright eyed child who'd left everything behind to serve something far greater than himself or was this something far worse than just an emotion? Could this be the start of something nefarious?

The gravel crunched beneath Kenobi's leather boots each step becoming more and more punishing than the last. He struggled to see what or who he was looking for through the dense formation of a black molten dust cloud getting kicked up in front of him. With nothing left to see he stilled himself, quiet; striving to hear something, anything that's give away his padawan's position. Silence. Nothingness. Stillness…

Then he heard it, finally. He could follow the sound through the storm. It was an eerie sound, hollow and struggling. It echoed through the vastness of the battleground. It was slow and repetitive, raspy...mechanical.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:  
 _"_ _I have this dream...every night for the past couple of months. I am standing on some sort of structure. There's liquid fire everywhere around me and I think I'm alone."_

The chamber halls were breathtaking in every way. Skywalker could see the deep amethyst linings within the architecture. The vermillion glow just beyond the windows shattered the serenity one would have easily found in such a chamber. It was quiet and peaceful on the surface but somewhere underneath laid an uneasiness that felt somehow intimidating although nothing with in the design would give that away. No lurking shadows seemed hidden beyond the walls nor any sign of malevolence intended by the person who lured him into these halls; at least none that he could sense. Darkness seemed to rush in from all sides like a symphony of waves in an ocean. It bombarded this chamber trying to get to him but somehow something kept it from drowning him.

 _"_ _I can't sense anyone, I mean, I don't sense any one in particular. The only thing that I am able to sense is darkness there. I try and focus but I'm-...afraid. I know jedi aren't supposed to be afraid, Master, but... There's something about this darkness that's mournful and_ _ **personal**_ _."_

His eyes continued to roll over every detail within the chambers taking in the artistry of the room. He was never one to slow down and appreciate the finer things but for some reason, here, he felt relaxed enough to want to. He loved to seek out battles and to feel the heat of the fight but he was in no hurry to seek out this one- the same fight he always loses. Anakin mused at the idea of this being the battle everyone seemed to constantly remind him he's destined to fight between himself and whatever sith presence the galaxy seemed to throw at him. He had his doubts about the prophesy but they were doubts he'd keep to himself, at least for now.

 _"_ _Then as I turn to find a way off the planet I see a figure. They're dressed in black and wearing some kind of mask with a respirator. The breathing is haunting. Slow. Even."_

The room's air began to heat up and Skywalker knew he'd be force to retreat from his fox hole pretty soon. There was a reluctance in his heart and with in his muscles to want to move. He'd almost rather die in that chamber with its brilliant buntings and muse carvings, but he also could sense the presence drawing nearer as if somehow channeling the heat source with him as he wandered the ashy plains of this volcanic rock. Anakin took one last look around, searing into his memory this moment, the one peaceful moment he would have tonight then he began his retreat.

 _"_ _We proceed to fight. It's gruelling and I can feel the ground under my feet breaking apart. He's stronger than any human should be. He seems to know every move I'm about to make before I make it. He's powerful._ _Probably more so than I am."_

Somewhere, drawing close, the dark cloaked figure watched on as the young man walked out from inside the foreboding palace. It had appeared the young man had found the only location that was in anyways a reminder of his days long gone when he was just a child naive in the workings around him and the greater purpose he would soon serve. The ground began to heat up just as his rage did, boiling, churning, festering. Of course he'd find Skywalker there. The planet began to erupt.

 _"_ _I try and call for reinforcements from the temple and they don't know where I am or what's going on because I can't tell them- and I didn't. He's coming after me. I try and call you-..."_

Anakin whips around just as a red blade came crashing down over his head. Barely in time Skywalker manages to break the blow with his own blade. The weight from this figure's blow sent an ache through his arms. The mask mere inches from his face sent a fear through his body. He seemed to know this individual but he also knew in his heart he didn't want to. His feet began to sink into the scortching ashes causing the soles of his boots to begin to melt. He felt the uncomfortable heat threatening to burn his lungs. Through these discomforts Anakin continued to fight. He'd remain standing as long as he could.

 _"_ _A lightsaber pierces through my chest and I can feel it burning. I'm crying in pain and trying to speak. I'm choking on my cries. I've lost. I'm dying. When my eyes close in the dream they open here. I don't know who the man with the respirator is but I could sense his anguish, his regret, his hatred.." Anakin peels his eyes off of the floor and looks at the hologram in front of him. "But, I'm starting to think the man with the respirator...is me…"_

He rose and dressed himself. This would be the day he did something about those nightmares. Kenobi would just have to understand. He turns off the recording as he walks out of the camp in search for answers or a way to change his dream. He was used to having questions with no answers. The Jedi were very good at that. They told him to do things that made no sense, when there was an easier path they chose to go the long way around. They turned small bumps in the roads into major constructions and Anakin was told not to question it by the other masters. The only one who provided any sense of logic was Obi-wan but he'd only show'd him a small peek into the view that was the jedi order. Anakin longed for something else, he didn't want to be their "chosen one" and wanted nothing to do with the illogical expectations of the order. He decided it was time to pack up for the long journey ahead of him. He left the hologram recording on his bead for Kenobi to find later that day by the time Anakin was long gone.


	3. Chapter 3

The ground beneath him shook violently assaulted by an unseen force. Convinced it had something to do with the negative forces that imbued themselves deep within the planet's core, Kenobi did not want to meet whatever cosmic force generated such a violent reaction from an already foreboding place. He continued his trek onward through the ashen valleys laying between two tall obsidian peaks. Embers floated before him drifting and dancing with the swirls of tumultuous energy. They were the only peaceful things about the dreadful planet. Kenobi wanted to leave, but he couldn't. Not until he found Skywalker. This was after all, just one of his dreams wasn't it?

Without warning the landscape before him opened in vents, breathing out large plumes of black ash and pumice. Raging tempests of searing volcanic gases rushed forward climbing higher and higher in the sky and devouring the land before it. Kenobi's eyes widened as his mind raced. Behind him laid nothing but lava flows, no Anakin, no figure. Before him laid certain death, but around it? Who knew. He would have to chance it. His legs protested from the years of battles wearing on them. Every step his bones ached and his joints wobbled but he was accustomed to it. His feet sank deep into the volcanic ash with each step. "Anakin!" he tried to call out, simultaneously reaching out with the force. Anakin was nowhere to be seen and all he could sense with in the force was a dark pit where Anakin should have been. Kenobi's heart sank to his feet. Was he too late?

The plume of smoke, ash, gases, and pumice accosted Kenobi, enveloping him from all sides. He covered his face shielding his lungs from much of the debris stalking in the air around him. His eyes strained against the particles to remain open and to see, especially as the heat hit them. It was tempting to close his eyes and try and feel his way out, but there was more at stake here than just his eyes. He needed to see his way out. He needed to see the danger that could be lurking within the clouds. As if on cue the raspy rhythmic breathing of the masked sith lord permeated the ash around him. "Yes, quite the show. I don't suppose you know where I can find my padawan do you?" Always quick with the snark Kenobi hoped the sith would reveal his position. "Bit counter productive to reside in a place like this isn't it? Especially with all that wheezing. You really ought to see a medical droid." he could have chuckled were the circumstances altered.  
The breathing continued. It seemed to echo around from all angles making it impossible to pinpoint its origins. The figure was taunting him- not taunting just observing. Nothing creepy about that, he thought to himself as he continued to try and find his way through the plume. "Anakin!" he rasped. The ash taking its toll on his own voice and breathing. The urge to cough presented itself but he resisted hoping to let out one more call.

A voice broke through before he could bring up the strength to call out again. "Sir." It was a familiar voice. A clone's voice. Kenobi looked around him. "Cody?" He strained to make out anything in the smoke. "Cody, is that you."  
"Yessir. I'm afraid I have some bad news."  
Again Kenobi's eyes strained but everything was growing darker. The light being sucked out of the very day, retreating until the only thing around him was- his eyes opened and he sat up.  
The clone took a step back, obviously startled by the jolted reaction of the Jedi Master. Cody quickly recovered and started again. "I'm afraid General Skywalker is missing, sir."  
"Missing?" The word hit him like a speeder. "Missing." he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I suppose Captain Rex is with him? He's probably surveying the area for trouble as he can't seem to get enough of it." Kenobi's voice was hoarse. He coughed into his sleeve and an incredulous look set on his features. Curious. He stared at the black soot staining his sleeve. Very curious.

-

How do you find somewhere that may not even exist? Anakin sat back in the pilot chair mewing the known galaxy over in his head trying to recall any place that even remotely reminded him of the place that haunted him. He grit his teeth. "Great. Just great." he threw the map against the wall shattering it. "How the hell am I supposed to find this place!" he groaned tugging at his hair in frustration when the console chirped to life. The image of a very irate Kenobi manifested on the dash. He was stroking his beard in thought a look of disappointment and annoyance on his face. "I'm waiting."  
"For?"

"Where are you, Anakin? We have a mission we need to complete _here._ Whatever has you distracted needs to wait. This is not the jedi way."

A torrent of anger began to bubble up from Anakin's stomach. "And what is that?" He couldn't bite back the response quite fast enough. It shocked not only Kenobi but himself, but he'd said it and there was no turning back now.  
"I can't go through this again with you Anakin. Return to base immediately. We can talk about whatever has you distracted after we finish the rendezvous."  
"You don't need two generals for a rendezvous. You can handle it yourself Obi-wan. You're the negotiator of the order, I'm sure you'll be fine without me there." The dryness in his voice was not lost on either of them.  
Kenobi pinched the bridge of his nose clearly at the end of his wit and attempted to be civilized with him. "Just get back here, before I have to report this to the council. You're already on thin ice with Master Windu. You can't keep doing this- this disappearing thing whatever it is. You are the chosen one, you have responsibilities to keep. Mainly, to the jedi order."  
Anakin glared at the hologram. "Yeah, I'm not to sure about that." he whispered under his breath.  
"Come again, young one?"  
Anakin looked around the dash then back up at the hologram. "I'm sorry, master, you're breaking up. Could you-" he ended the transmission. "Could you just look at the message I left you." He stood up turning to retrieve the pieces of the map he'd thrown earlier when it dawned on him.  
"Mustafar." The Separatist controlled planet. He wasn't looking in the Republican controlled systems he needed to cross into separatist space. Kenobi was going to really love this.


	4. Chapter 4

Smokey silhouettes rose out of the ashen dunes ravenous hunger in their illuminated ember eyes. They surrounded him like patient observers. They maintained their distance and seemed to carry an uncanny familiarity but the murky haze surrounding them prevented him from knowing for sure. His feet sank into the slag beneath him reminding him of the ever changing nature of the planet. Mountains seemed to rise and fall, rivers quickly burned into lakes and buildings crumbled, erected, and crumbled once more in endless chaotic cycles. Rivers of fire constantly toasted his face despite their distance from him and the ever present light from them reflected off of the smog of the planet. A miasma of sulfur was omnipresent and inescapable forever seared into his nose and memory. Anakin's eyes surveyed the distance, reminded of the presence of the watchers yet the feeling of isolation remained.

Ahead of him he could make out the top of the castle he had previously sought refuge in during a previous trip here- to Mustafar. It seemed newer than the last time he saw it. Somehow it had grown in size. The dark twin spires pierced at the sky like daggers daring it to collapse around it. It remained a well of darkness and almost fueled the planet. The relentless respirator cyborg- man, whatever he was had to be connected to that castle somehow. It felt familiar to him; as if he was connected to it as well. He couldn't quite place the feeling of that either. He was weary from the constant fight. Not something he himself would ever admit to as battles seemed to be his entire purpose for being. Commanding a legion of troops of his own, leading them into battle, saving those next to him, forging bonds of brotherhood with the men beside him in the trenches, these were the things that gave his life meaning- not the jedi order. Never the jedi order.

The aristocrats ruled over the bureacracy. His own wife a slave to the wheel of the Republic, turning round and around again but never fixing what's broken with it. The day will come when that wheel ceases to turn and what would the galaxy do then? The jedi would be of no use. They claim they are separate from politics. They exist outside of it, simple peace keepers. They are governed by the same forces that move the political circles. The jedi were so blinded by their self righteous status they failed to see the truth of their cult. His mind went blank. He stopped walking. He couldn't quite possibly believe all of that could he? Was it just a cult he was dragged into? Preyed upon as a young slave dreaming for a better future only to find himself serving a new master? He looked at the lightsaber in his hand. What was all of this about?  
"You cannot possibly serve something higher than yourself if you belong to a cult that is beneath you." The deep voice pierced the silence of the planet accompanied by the rasping wheeze he'd grown to fear.  
Anakin turned to the figure that now stood before him. Large and imposing he remained unchanged from the previous times he'd seen this man, cyborg, thing. "Get out of my head." He protested. No longer having the will to fight with the demon. "Why do we even do this?"  
The figure remained unmoved and the expressionless mask didn't let on to any switches. No subtle hints in conversation that things would quickly turn. No cues as to what the figure was thinking. Just a black soulless cast. The lightsaber slowly ignited sliding forth from its hilt in a dramatic fashion. The crimson blade fit for a planet made up of embers, oranges, vermillions, and various shades of black stood to little contrast to its surroundings.  
Anakin grit his teeth suddenly finding a deep seated rage well up from with in him like the lava springs surrounding him. It erupted with fury and energy he'd never known and it rippled through the air like thunder. The figure was thrown backwards by that very force and landed quite ungracefully into the gravel. "I have had ENOUGH." Anakin launched himself into the air pulling out his own blade and swinging it down with bone crushing force. "I DEMAND ANSWERS." He swung again violently tomahawking the figure laying frozen on his back.

He sat up, blinking away the tiredness from his eyes. He scanned his surroundings groggily and remembered where he was. The stars lining the heavens around him and his engine hummed peacefully in the background. He was still in his cockpit, still on his way to Mustafar. How long ago was his contact with Kenobi? It felt like days. Perhaps it was. The navicomputer however disagreed. "Minutes huh?" He sat back incredulous, mulling over the events from the volcanic planet in his mind. Who were those figures watching them? What was so different about this encounter?

-

18:45 SOMEWHERE IN THE OUTTER RIM

The conversation only left Kenobi more concerned, outraged, and curious. What did that boy think he was doing now? The Separatists would be here any minute now for the hostage exchange. This was the rendezvous and these were the terms. Skywalker was to be his back up should things have gone south. To call for back up now would be too late, no one in the republic would be available to reach them until the next morning. Even if someone could get out there in time, if the separatists saw reinforcements arriving they might take it as a sign of aggression and begin a battle. Kenobi would have to go at it alone. Rubbish. Complete rubbish.


End file.
